Totalitarian Troubadour

For some liberals, there really are no
adversaries to their left. President Obama’s statement Tuesday on the
death of folk singer Pete Seeger at age 94 was remarkable. Seeger was a
talented singer, but he was also an unrepentant Stalinist until 1995,
when he finally apologized for “following the [Communist] party line so
slavishly.” You’d think Obama might have at least acknowledged (as even
Seeger did) the error of his ways. Instead, Obama celebrated him only as
a hero who tried to “move this country closer to the America he knew we
could be.”...

I
found Seeger a highly talented musician who raised American folk music
to a new standard. But, as with other artists — the Nazi-era filmmaker
Leni Riefenstahl and the fascist poet Ezra Pound — an asterisk must be
placed beside their names for their service in behalf of an evil cause....

As historian Ronald Radosh wrote: “Seeger would sing and give his
support to peace rallies and marches covertly sponsored by the Soviet
Union and its Western front groups and dupes — while leaving his
political criticism only for the United States and its defensive actions
during the Cold War.” Radosh, an admirer and onetime banjo student of
Seeger’s, says he is grateful Seeger ultimately acknowledged the crimes
of Stalin....